Great reply. I couldn't have said better myself. (See, my reply is at the
top so if you don't want to read the quote that I like, then just hit 'd'
now, or whatever you do!)

Shampoo is dishonourable, claming that everything is to follow her 'laws'
which she ignores.

Ryouga is honourable, except when it comes to love... he becomes pretty
silly then, but not moreso than Akane does. He MAY sneak into her bed
under false pretenses, but that's just to be close to the one he loves.
And the way Akane sleeps, he probably gets squished/beated up EVERY NIGHT
just to be near her! And Ryouga at least risks his life to save Ranma on
numerous occasions. Never seen Shampoo risking her life for ANYONE, let
alone Akane.

Kun-chan...

On Tue, 25 Jun 1996, Don Wang wrote:

Harvey Torrance Griffin wrote:

        Shampoo <-> Ryoga: Someone once described them as "a pair of
bricks with a casual attitude toward property damage".  They have a lot
on common, both of them having trained all their lives to the detriment
of their interpersonal skills as well as holding themselved to a code of
honor not entirely connected to the rules of polite society.

	I may sound a lot like Kun-chan here, but Shampoo doesn't deserve Ryouga at all. 
Just because Ryouga and Shampoo are both quite strong and destructive doesn't mean 
they'll go together.  Akane's pretty destructive too.  Does this mean she should go with 
Ryouga?  Actually Shampoo's not bound to honor code of any sort.  It is just her excuse. 
She has yet to kill Ranma yet, and she hasn't killed Akane and Hinako who she gave the 
kiss of death.  If she was that honorable, she should've at least killed Hinako and 
possibily Akane by now, but she didn't.  She use her Amazon laws as an excuse to justify 
her actions.  When the Amazon laws don't help her, Shampoo simply ignores them.  
I can understand why Shampoo doesn't kill Ranma and maybe even Akane, but Hinako?  
If Shampoo killed her there will probably be no consequences whatsoever.  So why doesn't 
she do it?  She only used the kiss of death as an excuse to attack Hinako.  After she 
ceased to be threat, Shampoo simply ignores her and concentrate on getting Ranma as 
always.  Shampoo also lacks the mental intellgience to see things clearly.  Whether she 
is stupid by birth or it was the fault of the Amazon society, Shampoo simply isn't smart 
and does not understand how the society works.  Ryouga at least knows how the society 
works.  He may try to kill Ranma on occasion, but just about everyone does that on a 
regular basis anyway.  He's shy and timid, but he has no problem with understanding how 
the society works.  You think Ryouga will be hunting Ranma down all his life with the 
honor and his curse, but he doesn't.  He is honorable, but not to the point of 
stupidity.  His revenge on Ranma beginning was more than honor:  he held Ranma 
responsible for his curse.  He didn't want to kill Ranma just because he didn't fight; 
it was the result of the fight that made Ryouga decide to kill Ranma.  He may not be 
completely justified for his reasons, but he certainly didn't live his life on backward 
ideals such as honor.  His reasons for revenge, even if unjustified, were logical 
enough.  One would naturally want to kill the person what basically ruined his 
life forever.  Ryouga also knows that if he did kill Ranma Akane will be very sad, and 
he doesn't want that to happen.  In fact, Ryouga's probably one of the few people that 
actually knows and realizes the relationship between Ranma and Akane.  Yes Ryouga would 
try to kill Ranma if he ever has a chance to get Akane and Ranma got in the way, but 
that's all in the name of love.  The things Ranma did to Ryouga to keep him away from 
Akane are as, if not even worse, whatever Ryouga did to take advantage of Ranma.  Why 
did Ryouga risked his life to get the water to turn Ranma back to normal in the Herb 
story?  He said he did that because he owed it to Ranma, but he certainly didn't owe 
Ranma that much.  He did it either because it was for Akane or Ranma was his friend.  
Either way, it shows Ryouga lives more by simply honor.  Now, if we take a similar 
situation and put Shampoo and Akane there, Shampoo would definitely just leave Akane 
into whatever trouble she got herself in.  In fact, we should be lucky if Shampoo 
didn't try to hasten Akane's demise.  Ryouga would help Ranma, even if Ranma did a lot 
of nasty things to him.  It was because Ranma was his friend.  Ranma too feel uneasy 
when Ryouga was going to die in the same story.  Ryouga knows honor, love, and 
friendship.  He may be a little bit clumsy at expressing his feeling, shy, and 
destructive at times, but certainly that doesn't make Shampoo as match for him.  Ryouga 
deserves someone better.  I know you don't like Akari because her personality was never 
fully developed as the others, but from what we know of her she seems to be worthy of 
Ryouga.  No one else, except Akane who will not marry Ryouga, deserves Ryouga Habiki.